Bill Maher performs on New Years Eve in Honolulu, Hawaii Photo: Getty Images

Bill Maher, the liberal host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” drew a number of celebrity activists to his New Year’s Eve stand-up show at Honolulu’s Blaisdell Concert Hall at the same time President Obama vacationed nearby.

Also in the crowd was music mogul Clive Davis. Vedder, who’d performed before Maher, was overheard saying of the backstage gathering, “This is a real New Year’s party.” He might also have been toasting the fact that Rickey Charles Goodrich, former CFO of Pearl Jam’s management company, just pleaded guilty to stealing more than $380,000 from the group.